


Palingenesia

by ashley_actually



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Work In Progress, post 3b
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-08
Updated: 2014-03-30
Packaged: 2018-01-15 01:52:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1286770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashley_actually/pseuds/ashley_actually
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lydia discovers she shares a connection with a dead teenage girl. Old family secrets are uncovered and the origin of her banshee nature is revealed.<br/>Meanwhile a new evil rises in Beacon Hills.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Teen Wolf fanfic. Any feedback is much appreciated. Un-betaed so please forgive any errors.  
> My tumblr address for those who are interested: http://bastardash.tumblr.com/

Lydia Martin bent over the poster board putting the finishing touches on her econ project. She dabbed one more spot with paint and sat back with a smile.

"There. It's perfect."

Danny ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "We're supposed to be showing the recovery of the housing market in the last 5 years. Why did we use so much glitter paint again? Our graphs look like the excrements of a unicorn."

Lydia glanced at Danny and shrugged, "Coach likes shiny things."

Danny laughed, "fair enough." He stretched out his arms and moved his head back and forth cracking his neck. "Thank god we're finally done. Drawing and painting all this stuff by hand took forever. I miss my computer. I miss PowerPoint."

"While some teachers would look at our project and see a childish and tacky mess that a third grader would be ashamed to turn in, Coach sees good old fashioned hands-on hard work. The ability to read each of your teachers like a book is one of the most important keys to a straight A education."

"And I always thought it was your intelligence and charm that kept you at the top of the class." Danny said with a smirk.

Lydia put her hand to her heart. "Some of us are just unfairly blessed." She gathered up the paint supplies. "I'm going to go wash this stuff off, if I'm not back in 10 minutes come find me."

Danny laughed, "Yeah sure."

Lydia stopped what she was doing and glared at Danny. "We are in Beacon Hills High after dark. I am in no way joking."

Danny's smile faded slightly. "Did...did you want me to come with you?"

"I can obviously clean paint brushes by myself Danny." Lydia said with annoyance. "If something seems off come and find me. Use your judgement." With that Lydia turned on her heels and stamped out of the room.

The sound of Lydia's footsteps echoed through the dark empty hallways. Lydia hurried to the bathroom, mentally pushing down the panic that was threatening to rise in her chest. They'd been working on their project after school in Coach's classroom. It had become apparent pretty quickly that they were no where near finishing. Coach had tossed Danny his set of keys and told them to lock up after they were finished because, "if you couldn't trust your number one goalie who could you trust."

They had momentum going on their project and all their stuff was spread over several desks so it seemed like the perfect idea to take advantage of Coach's complete lack of common sense. Now walking down the hallway at night with the hairs standing up on the back of her neck and the constant feeling that someone was watching her, this seemed like the stupidest idea in the whole damn universe. So much horror had transpired at this school, the whole place should be condemned. Lydia pushed through the bathroom doors and flicked on the lights. Relief washed over her. The feeling of being watched evaporated. Lydia laughed at herself. She wasn't just some scared teenage girl. If there had been someone there all she would have had to do was let out one piercing screech to incapacitate it and summon her help. There was a lot of annoying crap that went along with being a banshee but at least there was one big positive; the ability to scream at your problems until they went away.

Lydia shivered as her body was wracked by a sudden chill. _That's what I get for washing the brushes in freezing cold water, even if that is the proper way to do it._ Lydia turned the hot water on and ran her hands under the tap. Above the sound of running water she could hear a steady clacking noise. _The least they could do at this deathtrap of a school is to maintain the plumbing._ Lydia shut off the taps. The clacking noise remained...

clack clack clack clack clack clack

                                                                                                                                            ...and it was getting louder. She covered her ears with her hands but that did nothing to dim the noise. She couldn't tell if the noise was coming from inside her head or out. The clacking was now a constant THUD. She could feel it behind her eyes...

THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          ....and if it didn't stop soon she was sure her skull was going to split in half. Lydia rushed blindly towards the bathroom door. She barrelled through it and was met with silence. Smoothing back her hair and wiping the tears out of her eyes Lydia took in her surroundings. It was just the school hallway, the same empty hallway she had been in 5 minutes before. She breathed in and out deeply, steadying herself. The darkness and quiet that had seemed oppressive only minutes before were now welcomed friends.

As her ears adjusted Lydia started to realize the hallway was not as quiet as she thought. In the distance she could hear the distinct clacking noise she had heard before. The sound was familiar but she couldn't place it. Part of her, most of her, wanted to turn and run back to the well lit econ room and her waiting friend but somehow she knew if she didn't walk towards the noise the oppressive thudding would return. Something wanted her on the other side of the school and Lydia knew she had to find out what. Her damn banshee senses were tingling.

Lydia made her way down the hallway. Eventually she found herself in front of the music room. Light streamed through cracks in door. She grabbed the handle and it turned with ease. Taking a deep breath Lydia walked into the classroom. A lone metronome sat on a desk admitting a clack with every wave of its steady arm. Lydia grabbed the metronome and silenced it. She was suddenly overcome with a feeling of déjà-vu. She turned in a slow circle surveying the classroom. There was nothing out of the ordinary that she could see, just a cello some student must have forgot to put away. Lydia walked over to the cello and plucked one of the strings. Instead of a musical note Lydia was sure she heard a whispered voice. Leaning in she plucked the string again.

"Paiiigggeee." The voice whispered.

Lydia plucked another string. This time the voice whispered, "Lydiiaaa."

Lydia's hand froze. No matter how many times it happened she just couldn't get used to disembodied voices talking to her. Lydia sat down and picked up the bow that was lying on the floor. She moved her chair closer to the cello and addressed the empty room. "Okay Paige, if that's your name. I've had a really long day so if you could just get to telling me whatever it is you need to tell me as quickly as possible that'd be great, thanks."

The moment Lydia drew the bow across the strings of the cello she felt like she'd been bashed in the head by a two-by-four. A rapid series of images flashed in her mind. She was overcome and couldn't make sense of them. She's walking down a hallway, no not her someone else. No she's running down the hallway, running from a monster. There's a boy. She can't see his face. Cello music fills the air, except for the annoying persistent sound of a bouncing basketball. She's in love, no not love pain. She's in horrible pain. The pain is overwhelming she can feel it coursing through every atom of her body. So much pain, pain, pain PAINPAINPAIN...

Lydia opened her mouth and screamed loud and long.

"Lydia!" She heard a voice call out. Strong hands gripped her shoulders. Lydia looked up and Danny came into focus. His face was etched with concern. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm...I'm fine." Lydia said weakly.

"Then why were you screaming like that?" he asked.

"I saw a mouse." Lydia flipped her hair and laughed, "such a stupid girl thing to do I know."

Danny shook his head in disbelief. "Sure whatever you say. Let's just get out of here."

"Let's. We have a big presentation tomorrow and we need our beauty sleep."

Danny scoffed, "speak for yourself."

Lydia playfully punched him in the shoulder. Danny offered her his hand and pulled Lydia out of her seat. They linked arms and walked through the school in a comfortable silence. Soon the faint light of the night sky was visible through the glass double doors that led to the parking lot. Lydia let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, but her relief was short lived. In front of the doors Lydia could make out a dark shape. Her grip on Danny's arm tightened.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Only one way to find out." She answered even though deep down Lydia knew what it had to be. She could smell the rot from where she stood.

Her and Danny moved closer and stood in front of the crumbled figure.

"It's a dead body." Lydia said with a sigh.

Danny used his free hand to plug his nose. "It's not a fresh one."

He was right. The thing lying in front of them had been dead for a long time. Lydia couldn't even say for sure whether it was a man or a woman. The tattered crumbling cloth clinging to the body looked like it was once a suit but that didn't really mean anything. The rotten shrivelled up skin on it's face left the corpse with a lopsided toothy grin. There were a few toughs of dark hair lingering on it's skull. It had no nose. Thankfully, for Lydia's sake, there were no voices or weird vibes surrounding this body. The poor thing was empty and forgotten.

Lydia pulled her cell phone out of her handbag, "I'll call the sheriff."

Danny gave her an appraising look, "so a mouse gets a screaming fit and a dead body gets a shrug?"

Lydia put her phone to her ear. "I'm not used to seeing mice."

15 minutes later Sheriff Stilinski was questioning them in the parking lot while a couple of paramedics took care of the body. They answered all the standard questions, what they were doing there, did they see anybody and so on.

"Well that seems to be everything." The Sheriff said shutting his notebook with a snap. "Danny you're free to go. Lydia I'd just like to ask you a couple more things." He fixed her with a pointed look.

"Lydia was going to give me a ride home." Danny said.

"Right. Do you mind waiting by her car? This will only take a minute." The Sheriff replied.

"Sure." Danny said, and then he rolled his eyes and walked away.

"What's up?" Lydia asked.

"I was just wondering if you had any extra insight to add to this case. You know with your special talents."

Lydia sighed. "No Sheriff I didn't get any sort of special tingly feelings around the body. As far as I can tell it's just a dead body. Nothing supernatural going on."

Sheriff Stilinski looked relieved. "Good. I might just have a run of the mill grave robbing case on my hands."

"Grave robbing?" Lydia asked.

"Yup. Got reports of an empty grave at the cemetery a few days ago and now a long dead body shows up here. I just need to confirm it's the same body and find the sicko responsible. Easy peasy."

"Why dump it at the school?"

"Oh any number of reasons. A message for a teacher or student, somebody's idea of a prank, convenience. Won't know till I catch the guy."

"Good luck with that." Lydia said pushing past the Sheriff.

"Have a good night Lydia and call me if you need to add something to your statement." The Sheriff called after her.

She knew he meant if she did end up having any weird vibes or vision or whatever to let him know. Couldn't he just let her enjoy the not being connected to a dead body feeling? She got to her car and found Danny leaning against the passenger side staring gloomily off into the distance.

"Ready to go?" she asked him.

"Yup" he said not looking at her.

They got in the car and drove off. They spent the ride in silence, not the comfortable kind. She pulled up to the curb in front of Danny's house and killed the engine. Danny reached for the door handle but before he could let himself out Lydia locked it.

"What the hell?" Danny exclaimed.

"I just wanted to chat for a minute. Are you okay Danny?"

Danny turned to face her. "No! Of course I'm not okay."

"Listen I know it was scary back there and seeing that body was pretty disturbing..."

"That's why you think I'm upset. Yeah that body was messed up but it's not the first and probably not the last that'll be found on campus. It's the fact you lied to me in the music room, and that the sheriff just had to get me out of earshot so he could discuss some super secret stuff with you. There's a ton of weird crap always happening all the time and all of my supposed friends are always in the middle of it. My best friend's gone and the rest of you treat me like I'm some brain dead moron who can't handle the truth."

Lydia felt horrible. She knew how frustrating it was to not know what was going on especially when you were pretty sure that all your friends did know.

"I'm sorry Danny. Nobody thinks you're a moron. Everybody loves you, you know that."

They sat in silence for a minute not quite looking at each other.

"Jackson told me some stuff before he left." Danny said giving Lydia a sidelong glance.

Lydia glanced back at Danny. "What kind of stuff?"

"Some stuff that led me to make some assumptions about some people." Danny said cryptically.

Lydia smiled at him, "how about we go up to your room and help each other out."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to tell you the same thing I had to repeatedly tell Jackson, you are not my type."

She laughed. "Come on Danny you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. I'll help you fit all the pieces you've collected together and you can help me find someone I've just decided I'm looking for."

"You want me to hack something."

"And you want me to reveal all of my best friends deepest darkest secrets." Lydia said with a sweet smile and an outstretched hand.

"Alright let's do this." Danny said taking her hand and shaking it.

Danny sat cross legged at the head of his bed with his laptop on his lap. Lydia stretched herself out across the rest of the bed propping herself up on her elbow.

"So, how much do you know?" Lydia asked.

"Jackson told me about the whole werewolf thing, and when I didn't believe him he showed me." Danny said glancing up from his computer screen.

"It's totally crazy right? Werewolves are real."

"Crazy but it also makes a sort of sense. Explains a lot of what was going around here."

"Yeah. That's the craziest part of the whole thing, how normal and not crazy it actually feels." Lydia said. "So anyway that led you to some assumptions."

"Right well Jackson didn't want to name names but he did say there were other werewolves around." Danny looked Lydia in the eye, "Scott McCall obviously."

"Obviously." Lydia answered.

"And Jackson kept disappearing with Derek 'Miguel' Hale the summer before he left so him too."

"Derek's middle name is Miguel?" Lydia asked.

Danny laughed. "No. You'll have to ask Stiles about that."

"Oh look who has secrets now."

"So Derek, werewolf?"

"Werewolf." Lydia said with a nod.

Danny paused for a moment before continuing. "Something was definitely up with Allison but I don't think werewolf. She had too many unnecessary weapons for that."

Lydia smiled sadly. "Werewolf hunter, from a long line of werewolf hunters."

"Really? That's kind of romantic with her and Scott. Also tragic." Danny said while clicking away on his keyboard and concentrating on his computer screen.

"Yeah, more tragic than romantic in the end." Lydia said quietly.

Danny stopped typing and put his laptop aside. "And then there's you."

"Me?" Lydia asked with feigned innocence.

"You. I know you're part of the weirdness but I can't figure you out at all. Did you know that tonight before you started screaming your head off you were playing a beautiful heart wrenching rendition of Ave Maria on the cello? Even though I'm pretty sure you haven't touched a cello in your life."

"Was I?" Lydia asked genuinely shaken. She had not been aware of that at all.

"Yeah. So I'm guessing you're not some sort of magical musical werewolf?"

"Nope. The scream is the key to what I am. Banshee, wailing woman, Lydia Martin at your service."

"A Banshee? Aren't Banshee's like old hags who scream at people before they die?"

Lydia smacked Danny's knee. "Apparently not," she said.

"So how did you become a Banshee? Did some other Banshee bite you?"

Lydia laughed, "I don't really even know. I must have been born this way. My Banshiness didn't manifest until Derek's crazy werewolf uncle bit me then died, then I brought him back to life. It was a whole thing."

Danny stared at her in awe. "You brought someone back from the dead."

Lydia shrugged. "Only the one person. I don't think it's something I can just do. I mean there was the bite before he died, then he was kind of possessing me. Like I said a whole thing. Anyway how's the search going?"

Danny shook his head and grabbed his laptop. "Right. Paige something, went to Beacon Hills High at some point, played the cello and died. Not much to go on."

"I know sorry. There were just so many images when I was apparently playing the cello. Maybe in a few days I can sort through them. Give you something more." Lydia flopped on her back and stared up at the ceiling.

"Don't worry I found her in like 5 minutes."

Lydia sat straight up. "What!?"

"What? I'm awesome." Danny scooted over and patted the space beside him on the bed.

Lydia scrambled to sit beside him. He had a news article pulled up on his computer screen. The picture of a teenage girl stared back at Lydia. She was pretty with dark wavy hair and a mole under one of her bright shiny eyes.

"Paige Wilson. Daughter of Kevin and Sherry Wilson. Her body was found in the woods near Beacon Hills High where she was a student and she was also a gifted cellist. Died of an apparent animal attack. She was only 15." Danny said paraphrasing the article.

"That's her. Poor thing." Lydia said quietly. "But her parents names something's not right. I feel like there should be another name or something."

Danny looked impressed. "That would be because Paige was adopted." Danny pulled up another window on his computer showing Paige's adoption records. "The birth father isn't listed but her birth mother's name was Diane Kelly."

Lydia felt her blood run cold. "Diane is my mother's name. Her maiden name is Kelly."

"Maybe it's just a coincidence." Danny said taking Lydia's hand.

Lydia shook her head. "No it isn't. Paige was my sister."


	2. Chapter 2

Lydia laid in bed starring into the darkness of her room. The events of the day played and replayed in her mind. One of her hands gripped her late best friend's bow tightly, while the other played with the bowstring.

"I have a sister," she declared to the empty room. "Or I had a sister anyway. I always thought it was a little odd that we were all only children, you, me, Stiles, Scott, and Jackson. Then Kira shows up and she's an only child too. Birth rates have declined a dramatic degree in this country, but two kids is still the norm you know. Turns out my mother has a few skeleton's in her closet. Explains why she was so quick to get me on the pill when I hit puberty. Not that I wasn't grateful for her general acceptance of my budding sexuality, but she did leave some personal anecdotes out of all our safe sex talks. I don't even know what to say to her. Hey mom did you happen to give birth to another daughter when you were around my age and then give her up for adoption. Oh and did you know she died? Most kids find out about their family's deep dark secrets by eavesdropping or rummaging around in the attic or something." Lydia pulled violently on the bowstring, "but no not me, not Lydia Martin banshee extraordinaire. I hear voices. I see visions!" She sighed and went back to pulling the string more lightly.

"Not your voice though. The one up side to all this crap should be unlimited long distance calls to my one and only best friend, but instead I get 6 months of silence. I know you probably have a lot to do on the other side, rescuing souls from the river Styx or partying in Valhalla and what have you but I just need to hear your voice. I need to know you're alright. So one of these days just say something, anything. I'm going to keep pestering you until you do, and you know how stubborn I can be."

Yet more silence was Lydia's only answer. She played with the bow for a few more minutes while listening to the familiar noises of her house settling. Eventually her eyelids began to feel heavy. Lydia carefully placed the bow beside her bed. "Goodnight Allison," she said before curling up on her side and drifting off to sleep.

Lydia walked down the halls of Beacon Hills high school in what felt like slow motion. Students streamed past her as she made her way to her locker. The morning bell rang loudly and suddenly the halls were empty. She thought she had made it to school on time this morning but now she was running late. Lydia looked around the hallway, she was no where near her locker. Was she really walking that slowly, or had she spaced out and walked right past it? Lydia turned a corner. The door to the music room loomed in front of her. It was slightly ajar and she could hear cello music coming from inside. She backed away slowly and ran right into someone. Lydia turned around quickly and faced an empty hallway. Empty except for the basketball that was bouncing and rolling away from her. "I don't have time for this I'm late!" Lydia yelled at no one.

She hurried down the hallway and finally made it to her locker. The new girl was waiting for her. "I'm so sorry. I'm supposed to show you around and I'm late. Weird morning." The new girl smiled at her. Lydia gave her a once over. "I love your jack...you're bleeding." A rapidly increasing pool of red appeared in the middle of the girl's white shirt. She shrugged at Lydia seemingly non-pulsed by the life threatening amount of blood that was now running down her front and dripping on to the floor.

"An old injury is it?" Lydia asked and the new girl nodded. "Well don't worry I'll get you cleaned up. This is no way for my new best friend to make a first impression. Allison is it?" The new girl nodded. "Well Allison I have lots of practice in getting out bloodstains." She grabbed Allison's hand and pulled her towards the bathroom. Lydia burst through the bathroom door and out onto the lacrosse field. She must have got turned around somewhere.

"You'd think I was the new girl," Lydia said turning her head towards Allison but Allison wasn't there. She was alone. Lydia looked up at the setting sun. The school day was over. It had been a long time since she had last seen Allison. Lydia felt uneasy. She shouldn't be standing in the field by herself. Wasn't she supposed to be meeting somebody in the school? A boy. She was meeting a boy. He was probably wondering where she was.

"I better go." she said to herself. "The hour is getting late and there's a monster in the woods." Lydia turned and headed back into the school.

It was pitch black she could barely see anything. Where was he? She had better things to do then wander around the school in the middle of the night, and there were far more romantic spots for a secret rendezvous. She should have said no, made him sweat a bit, but she just couldn't say no to him. If only he wasn't so cute. If only he didn't give her the butterflies. Those stupid butterflies were going to be the death of her. She heard a noise behind her and smiled. Her heart quickened in anticipation. She turned around and froze. It wasn't him.

A him that was too large to be her him was glaring at her in the darkness. He was glaring at her with red glowing eyes. Fear squeezed her insides and her heart beat pounded in her ears. It wasn't a him at all it was the monster. It had found her. She turned to run but she was moving in slow motion. The hallway in front of her narrowed and the distance to the doors and her escape seemed to increase immeasurably. The monster was closing in behind her. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. She moved down the hallway slowly, much too slowly. She could feel the hot breath of the monster on the back of her neck. Claws scratched at her arm and she fell. It seemed to take forever for her to hit the ground, and then the monster was on her. She tried to crawl away but he had her pinned to the ground. There was no escape. In that moment she knew she was going to die. She squeezed her eyes shut. When she felt the sharp fangs enter her side she was finally able to scream.

Lydia woke with a start. Her heart pounded rapidly in her chest and she struggled to catch her breath. She shivered in the cool morning air. The grass underneath her bare feet was wet with dew. She blinked rapidly taking in her surroundings. She was in the woods. Slowly she raised her hand in front of her face. "1...2...3...4...5, 5 fingers. I'm not dreaming."

Sadly this was not the first time she had inexplicably woken up in the woods. At least this time she had a nightshirt on. She just needed to get her bearings so she could find her way to the road. Lydia turned slowly in a circle. At the sight of the gigantic tree stump she stopped. Anger bubbled up in her chest. She marched over to the Nemeton and kicked it.

"Ow!" Lydia called out. "This is all your fault! Every time anything in this town happens there you are. Whoever cut you down had the right idea but didn't go far enough. Once I find my way out of these woods I'm coming back! I'm coming right back with a flamethrower!"

"Lydia?" a familiar voice called out.

As if this morning wasn't bad enough. Lydia turned around and narrowed her eyes. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Peter Hale raised an eyebrow. "What the hell am I doing here?" He gestured at her bare feet and nightshirt. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Out for a morning jog." She snapped at him.

"Have it your way. I don't actually care. It's your fault I've been running around these woods all night anyway."

"And how's that?" she asked.

"You activated the werewolf phone tree last night. You called the Sheriff who called Stiles, who called Scott, and so on and so forth. Since then I've been on the look out for grave robbers and missing bodies. Being a real team player."

"Really? And what's in it for you?" Lydia said, crossing her arms.

Peter placed his hand over his heart. "Nothing. Just trying to score a few brownie points with our dear true alpha."

Lydia opened her mouth for a comeback but Peter raised his hand and cocked his head to the side. "Do you hear that?" he asked.

Lydia listened and heard the sound of a breaking branch coming from behind where Peter was standing. He quickly moved to stand beside Lydia. Now she could hear what sounding like shuffling footsteps. The footsteps sounds grew closer and then a figure emerged from the trees headed their way. Lydia gasped as she instantly recognized it. It was the body from last night, upright and walking. Both her and Peter stood transfixed watching the obviously dead body shamble towards them.

"Shouldn't you attack it or something?" Lydia asked Peter.

"Me? You're the one who's immune to everything." he shot back.

"To zombies!?"

"Don't be silly zombies don't exist."

"Then what the hell is that." Lydia said pointing at the thing that looked a lot like a zombie.

"Immortality gone horribly wrong?" Peter offered.

Lydia stared at the not-a-zombie. There was really only one thing she could try at this point. "Just shut up and plug your ears." She took in a deep breath and screamed. The body immediately collapsed. Lydia was about to let herself enjoy a moment of relief when she heard something else moving through the woods. This time very fast.

Peter patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry this one's with us," he said.

Derek Hale burst through the trees and growled menacingly at his uncle.

"Relax," Peter said. "I found Lydia wandering around the woods. Apparently she was taking a morning jog, dressed like that. And look we found a body, or it found us."

Derek shifted back to human and ignored his uncle, "Why'd you scream?" he asked Lydia.

"Well this is the same body I found at the school last night except this time it was up and walking around all night of the living single dead guy, and Peter was being useless so I had to do something. When I screamed it just collapsed." Lydia explained.

"Like a puppet whose strings were cut?" Derek asked.

"Exactly like that actually." Lydia said.

Peter looked pointedly at his nephew. "You don't think?"

Derek shrugged. "It could just be somebody playing around, experimenting. Or..."

"Or what?" Lydia asked.

"Or," Peter smiled. "Beacon Hills could have it's very own necromancer.

"So zombies no, but necromancy yes? Sure why not." Lydia said rolling her eyes. "I just want to go home."

"I ran here but hop on and I'll give you a piggy back ride." Peter said patting himself on the back.

"My car's not too far." Derek interjected. "Lydia will come with me and you can deal with the body."

"Deal with it how? It was turned over to the proper authorities last night and it just got up and walked away." said Peter.

"Burn it, dismember it, I don't want to know. Be creative and have fun." Derek smacked Peter on the shoulder and then turned around. "Come on Lydia."

"But not too much fun," Lydia said before turning to follow Derek.

Whatever sleep walking trance she had been in last night had long worn off and now the adrenalin rush of this mornings fun had worn off too. Lydia dragged her feet and she could feel every step she took. Unless she had sleep hitchhiked she must have been walking for hours last night maybe even all night. She stumbled after Derek. Even though she knew he was walking slowly so she could keep up it still seemed to Lydia that Derek was moving at werewolf speed. Sharp pain shot through her foot. Lydia groaned, she had stepped on a pine cone.

"Derek what is the point of all that super werewolf strength if you can't even rescue a damsel in distress properly?" Lydia asked.

Derek turned around the corners of his mouth slightly turned upwards. He bent over and scooped Lydia up in his arms. "Better?" he asked.

"Much. Thank you." she replied. "...so you totally barrelled your way through the woods to my rescue back there."

Derek glanced down at her and then away again. "You're part of the pack."

Lydia smiled happily to herself. She knew Scott considered her part of the pack but Derek was harder to read. Plus they had never really spent any time together, and the few run ins they did have hadn't exactly gone well. Maybe it wasn't time to go shopping for matching leather jackets, but it was nice to know Derek had her back if she needed it.

In no time they had made it out of the woods and onto the road. Derek's car came into view. "Why did you ever trade in your awesome camaro for the soccer mom-mobile over there?" she asked.

She could feel him shrug. He put her down gently beside his car and opened the passenger side door. "This car has a lot more space for stuff, people, random damsels in distress."

_For the pack_ . Lydia sat down in the passenger seat and smiled up at him. "You can't fool me Derek Hale. Under that tough exterior beats the bleeding heart of a complete softie."

Derek leaned in, "promise not to tell anyone?"

Lydia drew an X over her heart with her finger. "Cross my heart."

"Thanks." Derek said and Lydia could swear she heard him actually chuckle as he shut her door.


End file.
